Ask Mar

[Lost Leopard Spot]

You are Mar and I claim my five pounds.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

The king, by the way, because he was cruel and vicious, still killed them.

[Montreal Wanderer]

The king, by the way, because he was cruel and vicious, still killed them.

I bet the third chap never saw that coming....

[Lost Leopard Spot]

The king, by the way, because he was cruel and vicious, still killed them.

I bet the third chap never saw that coming....

I've said this before, we need a *groan* smiley...

[Annoyed Grunt]

The king, by the way, because he was cruel and vicious, still killed them.

I bet the third chap never saw that coming....

I've said this before, we need a *groan* smiley...

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Well thank you.

[Annoyed Grunt]

Well thank you.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Well thank you.

I need a question mark smiley... no, hang on, I've found one on my keyboard... ?

[Mar]

I've been hunting, well foraging anyway, and I found this thread four pages back. Wow.
I have a number of questions:
1 Do you still exist?
2 Do you still answer questions?
3 Can you answer me the following question?
4
In a land ruled by a cruel and vicious king there are three court philosophers who claim to be the best most logical philosophers who have ever lived. One day the king is annoyed by his philosophers so he threatens to kill them, but in order to have a bit of fun for himself first, the king sets a test and gives the philosophers a single chance to escape from execution.

The philosophers are forced to sit around a table. Two of the philosophers are blindfolded while the other philosopher is blind and cannot see anyone. The king tells the philosophers that he has five hats: three of the hats are black and two of the hats are white.

A hat is then placed on each philosopher's head. The two hats left over are taken away and hidden. The king then removes the blindfold off the first philosopher and he is asked if he can tell the king what colour hat he is wearing and tell the king how he knows that, and if he can then they will all be allowed to leave unharmed.
The first philosopher who can see both of his other philosopher friends' hats but not his own thinks long and hard but in the end concludes that he doesn’t know. "I don't know, logic cannot inform me" he tells the king.

The king then takes the blindfold off the second philosopher and asks him the same question, promising the same reward. The second philosopher, who also can see both of his other philosopher friends' hats but not his own thinks even longer and even harder than the first philosopher but in the end confesses to not knowing. "I don't know, and I have no way of knowing how to work out the answer" he tells the king.

The last philosopher, who cannot see ANYBODY'S hat, is asked by the king if he can tell him what colour hat he is wearing and how he knows that, with the same promise of release for all of them if he can. The blind philosopher thinks for a second and says "I know!" He then amazes the king by telling him the correct colour hat he is wearing and how he knows that.

Mar, explain how he knew the colour of his hat, and what colour it was?

1) Yes.
2) Yes. (reminded me of Answer me these questions three... What is the air speed velocity of an air laden swallow)
3) Allegedly. Although i'm fairly certain you may have to wait nearly four years for an answer.
4) I'll refer to Montreal Wanderers answer for this one as my four years trying to answer this has caused me a few issues.

I got side tracked a little with my new cat skills.

[Prufrock]

His hat is black.

[Montreal Wanderer]

I've been hunting, well foraging anyway, and I found this thread four pages back. Wow.
I have a number of questions:
1 Do you still exist?
2 Do you still answer questions?
3 Can you answer me the following question?
4
In a land ruled by a cruel and vicious king there are three court philosophers who claim to be the best most logical philosophers who have ever lived. One day the king is annoyed by his philosophers so he threatens to kill them, but in order to have a bit of fun for himself first, the king sets a test and gives the philosophers a single chance to escape from execution.

The philosophers are forced to sit around a table. Two of the philosophers are blindfolded while the other philosopher is blind and cannot see anyone. The king tells the philosophers that he has five hats: three of the hats are black and two of the hats are white.

A hat is then placed on each philosopher's head. The two hats left over are taken away and hidden. The king then removes the blindfold off the first philosopher and he is asked if he can tell the king what colour hat he is wearing and tell the king how he knows that, and if he can then they will all be allowed to leave unharmed.
The first philosopher who can see both of his other philosopher friends' hats but not his own thinks long and hard but in the end concludes that he doesn’t know. "I don't know, logic cannot inform me" he tells the king.

The king then takes the blindfold off the second philosopher and asks him the same question, promising the same reward. The second philosopher, who also can see both of his other philosopher friends' hats but not his own thinks even longer and even harder than the first philosopher but in the end confesses to not knowing. "I don't know, and I have no way of knowing how to work out the answer" he tells the king.

The last philosopher, who cannot see ANYBODY'S hat, is asked by the king if he can tell him what colour hat he is wearing and how he knows that, with the same promise of release for all of them if he can. The blind philosopher thinks for a second and says "I know!" He then amazes the king by telling him the correct colour hat he is wearing and how he knows that.

Mar, explain how he knew the colour of his hat, and what colour it was?

1) Yes.
2) Yes. (reminded me of Answer me these questions three... What is the air speed velocity of an air laden swallow)
3) Allegedly. Although i'm fairly certain you may have to wait nearly four years for an answer.
4) I'll refer to Montreal Wanderers answer for this one as my four years trying to answer this has caused me a few issues.

I got side tracked a little with my new cat skills.

When the first blindfold is removed there are four possibilities for the two who can be seen.

1. B B
2. B W
3. W B
4. W W

If number 4 was the case the first philosopher would know his hat was Black. Since he didn't know possibility 4 is ruled out.

When the second blindfold is removed if the third philosopher had a white hat, he would know his was black since they can't both be white. But he didn't know, so the third philosopher cannot have a white hat.

Since the third philosopher cannot have a white hat, he must have a black one and said so - saving the day.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Cor blimey. Four years.
Amazing cat skills by the way.